Manager: Josh Barnett Has Not Agreed to Defend King of Pancrase Title in 2013

On Thursday, reports surfaced that Josh Barnett
had agreed to defend his open-weight King of Pancrase
title in 2013. According to Barnett’s manager, Leland LaBarre,
those reports are false.

Though “The Warmaster” was recently approached by the long-running
promotion while he was in Japan for a pro-wrestling match,
Barnett’s manager says that the heavyweight never agreed to fight
for Pancrase in the coming year.

“It’s not true. I guess [Pancrase] talked to Josh while [Josh] was
[in Japan], and they said they would love to have him back, but
there was nothing [to it],” LaBarre told Sherdog.com. “Certainly
Josh would never indicate that he was going to go fight there, and
they never reached out to me. There is nothing imminent. There is
nothing that we are planning on doing. I can’t imagine that
happening. There are no discussions, and there have been no
discussions.”

According to LaBarre, Barnett is directly focused on his next
Strikeforce
appearance, which will serve as the last fight on his current deal
with the Zuffa-owned promotion. The former Ultimate Fighting
Championship belt holder last competed against Daniel
Cormier on May 19 in Strikeforce’s heavyweight grand prix
final, breaking his hand and dropping a unanimous decision to the
American Kickboxing Academy standout.

Following surgery to repair the break, Barnett is now back in the
gym and awaiting his next fight, though Strikeforce has not yet
announced a date or an opponent for Barnett’s return to the
hexagonal cage.

“He is totally back,” said LaBarre. “He’s been training now for
almost a month, and we’re excited about the possibility of fighting
[soon]. Josh has another fight left on his Strikeforce deal, and
he’s excited about that next fight.”

Barnett, 34, captured the King of Pancrase open-weight title in
August 2003 and defended it twice successfully before beginning a
nine-fight stint with the Pride Fighting Championships. Over the
next eight years, Barnett would lose to just two men: Mirko
Filipovic (thrice) and Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira. Barnett’s recent loss to Cormier snapped an
eight-fight winning streak for the catch-wrestler.

After Barnett honors the final fight on his Strikeforce deal, he
may indeed find himself competing under a different promotional
banner in 2013. Provided all parties agree on the terms, fans could
potentially see Barnett back in the UFC after Strikeforce folds its
heavyweight division.

"If Zuffa wants Josh Barnett
to fight in their UFC Octagon after Josh's last Strikeforce fight,
I think that is where he'll be,” said LaBarre.